This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/eastpenn to TrainWeb.US/eastpenn.

CONRAIL OCS ON THE ROAD (repeated from yesterday)

Conrail's Office Car Special will be out on the road all this week.  For the complete schedule, either go to the schedule page or click here.

SD70MAC UPDATE

As reported yesterday afternoon, SD70MAC 4133 was being road tested between Altoona and Cresson, PA.  The 4133 passed the testing and is to be paired with the 4132 (ready as of 3/27).  The pair should head west to Pittsburgh then settle in to the INEL/ELIN pool with sisters 4130 and 4131.  The units should move west today. -Kevin Burkholder

NORFOLK SOUTHERN AND GUILFORD RAIL PLAN NEW INTERMODAL SERVICE

NORFOLK, VA - Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) and Guilford Rail System today announced agreement on the creation of competitive new intermodal service for New England.

Beginning in mid-summer, New England Thoroughbred Intermodal Service will link Guilford Rail's newly-constructed terminals at Devens Commerce Center in Ayer, Mass., and at Waterville, Maine, with Norfolk Southern's network of 34 intermodal terminals.

The service will operate via the newly-established interchange between Norfolk Southern and Guilford Rail at Mechanicville, N.Y., near Albany. Norfolk Southern reaches Mechanicville and the Albany area through a haulage agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

New England Thoroughbred Intermodal Service will be marketed as a single line Norfolk Southern service to both Ayer and Waterville, offering customers "one-stop shopping" for their intermodal requirements to and from New England.

After completion of Norfolk Southern's joint transaction with CSX Corporation to operate Conrail Inc. routes and assets, the service will be expanded to include the new Norfolk Southern / Conrail network. This will give customers access to seamless intermodal service to the West and Southwest, as well as options to truck service currently using the Interstate 95 north-south corridor that runs from Maine to Florida.

"One of our key objectives in the Conrail transaction is to help bring competitive rail service to the Northeast," said Norfolk Southern Chairman, President and CEO David R. Goode. "Today's agreement will allow us to introduce Thoroughbred competition to intermodal customers throughout New England."

David A. Fink, chairman, president and CEO of Guilford Rail System, said, "Norfolk Southern brings to New England a long legacy of commitment to safety, quality service and competitive pricing. We share their goals to grow our business handling both domestic and international cargoes, and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership."

Norfolk Southern is a Virginia-based holding company with headquarters in Norfolk. It owns a major freight railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway Company, which operates approximately 14,400 miles of railroad in 20 states, primarily in the Southeast and Midwest and the Province of Ontario. The Corporation also owns Pocahontas Land Corporation, a natural resources company.

With headquarters in North Billerica, Mass., Guilford Rail System operates a 1,500 mile regional rail system in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, as well as the Canadian maritimes. Guilford Rail's subsidiaries include the Boston & Maine, Maine Central and Springfield Terminal railroads. -Norfolk Southern

CSX ADDS ADDITIONAL INTERMODAL TRAIN

Jacksonville, Florida , March 31, 1998 -- CSX Intermodal (CSXI) is adding a third daily train between Chicago and Florida, effective today.

With the new train, CSXI will offer Florida-bound departures from Chicago at 4 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. The third train adds capacity in a booming intermodal lane. While the new capacity supports growth, service also will improve as customers will have three daily opportunities to load their freight to Florida.

The new train will have an early morning departure from Chicago, serving the growing market between the Midwest and Central Florida, with second morning availability in Orlando. With Orlando freight on the new train, CSXI's existing trains will have additional capacity to meet surging demand between Chicago and other Florida points. The new train also will provide overflow capacity to all other Florida points.

The new train will stop in Nashville to deliver freight from Chicago to Nashville and Memphis. It will then pick up Nashville and Memphis freight bound for Florida. Service from Tennessee into Florida improves by as much as 17 hours.

CSXI developed the new service in response to continued growth in a key highway lane.

"We've seen tremendous customer demand for capacity and service, especially from Chicago to Florida," said Alan Peck, vice president - domestic marketing and pricing.  "We've begun to experience full capacity in that lane year-round, not just during the peak season. This is the kind of service and growth opportunity our customers are looking for."

"Customers should see a big improvement in service," said Patrick Casey, director - trailer marketing. "Leaving three times a day will help us meet growing demand and give same day departure rather than waiting 24 hours for another train."

"While the initial design focus was on Chicago, we also saw an opportunity to improve our service between Nashville and Florida," said Charles Eacho, general manager - network design. "This was a bonus we think our customers will like."

CSX Intermodal provides transcontinental intermodal transportation services and operates a network of dedicated intermodal facilities across North America. It is a business unit of CSX Corporation in Richmond, Va.-CSX Intermodal

CN INSTITUTES NEW COKE/SLAG SERVICE

Canadian National has begun operating a unit coke/slag train between Bethlehem Steel in South Buffalo, NY and River Rouge Steel in Detroit, MI.  The new service carries the symbols 715/716 while operating on the CN.  CN expects service to grow into 100-car unit trains! The first train operated yesterday from Buffalo to Detroit. -Bryce Lee

RAILROADS PLEDGE TO FIX PROBLEMS

WASHINGTON, March 31, 1998 "Current service problems that exist in the railroad industry must be and are being addressed," the interim president of the Association of American Railroads said here today. "Railroads are committed to communicating better and working with their customers to overcome service challenges," he added.

But, warned James A. Hagen, "trying to fix those short-term problems by destroying the regulatory system that produced dramatic improvements in the overall conditions of railroads would be a public policy mistake of enormous proportions and would hurt rail customers, railroads, and ultimately American consumers."

Mr. Hagen was testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee's Surface Transportation Subcommittee on legislation that would reauthorize the Surface Transportation Board, the government agency that regulates railroads.

He urged Congress to quickly pass a multi-year reauthorization of the Board without including misguided amendments that would reregulate railroads and impede their opportunity to earn adequate returns on investment.

"Progress since railroads were partially deregulated in 1980 has been enormous," he declared. "Railroads slashed rates to customers by 56 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis; railroad boosted productivity by 171 percent; railroads cut the train accident rate by 70 percent; and railroads sharply narrowed the gap between return on investment and cost of capital."

Railroads are capital intensive, Mr. Hagen said, and have invested more than $100 billion to maintain and improve infrastructure and rolling stock just since 1990. "Railroads are being called upon to improve service and to expand capacity. To meet those demands, railroads must have access to more capital, not less."

Mr. Hagen, who retired as chairman of Conrail two years ago, noted that he has spent some four decades involved with the railroad industry. "And I can tell you from first-hand knowledge that railroads today are stronger, more service-oriented and more competitive than ever before."

These gains have been made possible, Mr. Hagen said, "by a flexible regulatory system" that promotes marketplace competition while maintaining a regulatory safety net for those few shippers who may have limited transportation alternatives.

"For virtually every movement, railroads face intense competition from trucks and barges, either alone or in combination with short-haul rail movements by competitive rail carriers," he added. "Railroads must price their services to meet the increasingly competitive inroads by alternative modes of transportation."

Before the Staggers Act was passed in 1980, Mr. Hagen pointed out, railroads "were on the verge of collapse or government takeover and almost 25 percent of the industry was bankrupt. The problem was a regulatory system that was run by government price control, rather than the free marketplace. A return to the economic policies of the past would surely threaten the rail industry's future."-American Association of Railroads

Please check this location daily, as new information will be posted, as it becomes available. If you have news to report or information regarding railroads in the Eastern United States, please send e-mail to Kevin Burkholder at KBurkholder@psghs.edu